Light box tests

I finally got around to playing a bit with the light as I am taking pictures of my models. All in all I have to say I am both impressed and a bit disappointed. In the over all scheme of things the pictures tend to loose a lot of vibrancy and colour as I am increasing the homogeneity of the lighting and intensity. But what really impress me is what happens with the over all detail of the photos, zooming in really reveals the details... and it shows what I am getting right and where I have to improve my technique.  In the above picture I have zoomed in on the left foot in the picture below, and if I did know what what was painted and what was not I would have trouble telling what is what. The painted foot and tabard of the model really match the natural stone of the picture in both colour saturation and a illumination making the painted parts blend in with the natural parts in a realistic way.

The picture above is taken with a Canon ixus 12015 without flash, the model is in a IKEA white semi transparent plastic recycling container with two 500 W lights illuminating it from either side trough the plastics.

Adding a front flash restores the colours to the pictures without adding to much of a shadows. But it distorts the colour balance and adds to much contrast to the picture, emphasising the different colour fields. I thin I will have to work a bit with the light set up ... I think.